Trichophagia is the compulsive eating of hair associated with trichotillomania

Trichotillomania

Trichotillomania, which is classified as an impulse control disorder by DSM-IV, is the compulsive urge to pull out one's own hair leading to noticeable hair loss, distress, and social or functional impairment. It is often chronic and difficult to treat....

 (hair pulling). In trichophagia, people with trichotillomania also ingest the hair that they pull; in extreme (and rare) cases this can lead to a hair ball (trichobezoar

Trichobezoar

A trichobezoar is a bezoar formed from the ingestion of hair. Trichobezoars are often associated with trichotillomania , are rare, and can be fatal if undetected. Surgical intervention is often required....

).

Signs and symptoms

Trichophagia is characterized by the person eating hair, usually their own; primarily after pulling it out. Most often, hair is pulled out and then the ends of the root bulb are eaten, or occasionally the hair shaft itself. The hair can eventually collect in the gastrointestinal tract (on occasion, and depending upon severity of symptoms) causing indigestion and stomach pain. Ritual is a strong factor, and may involve touching the root bulb to the lips, tasting the hair, and occasionally chewing it. Sometimes those with the disorder may even eat the hair of others. In the psychiatric field it is considered a compulsive psychological disorder.

Prognosis

Rapunzel syndrome

Rapunzel syndrome

The Rapunzel syndrome is an extremely rare intestinal condition in humans resulting from eating hair . The syndrome is named after the long-haired girl Rapunzel in the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm...

, an extreme form of trichobezoar in which the "tail" of the hair ball extends into the intestines, can be fatal if misdiagnosed. In some cases, surgery may be required to remove the mass; a trichobezoar weighing 4.5 kilograms (9.9 lb) was removed from the stomach of an 18-year-old woman with trichophagia.

History

Trichophagia is most often covered in the medical literature only "as a rare symptom of trichotillomania" although it was reported in a 16-year-old boy by a French doctor, M. Baudamant, in the 18th century.